Inpatient Skin-to-skin Care Predicts 12-Month Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Very Preterm Infants.

Objective: To examine the relationship between inpatient skin-to-skin care rates and neurodevelopmental scores measured at 12 months in very preterm (VPT) infants.
Study Design: From a retrospective review of medical records of 181 VPT infants (<32 weeks gestational age [GA] at birth), we derived skin-to-skin care rate, ie, total minutes of skin-to-skin care each infant received over the number of days of hospital stay. We used scores on the Capute Scales from routine follow-up assessments at 12 months to measure neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Results: Families averaged approximately 17 minutes/day of skin-to-skin care (2 days/week, 70 minutes/session), although there was substantial variability. Variation in skin-to-skin rate was positively associated with outcomes at 12 months corrected age (r = 0.25, P < .001). Skin-to-skin rate significantly predicted 6.2% unique variance in 12-month neurodevelopmental outcomes, after adjusting for GA, socioeconomic status (SES), health acuity, and visitation frequency. A 20-minute increase in skin-to-skin care per day was associated with a 10-point increase (0.67 SDs) in neurodevelopmental outcomes at 12 months. GA and infant health acuity did not moderate these relations.
Conclusion: VPT infants who experienced more skin-to-skin care during hospitalization demonstrated higher scores on 12-month neurodevelopmental assessments. Results provide evidence that skin-to-skin care confers extended benefits to VPT infants through the first year of life. Skin-to-skin care offers promise as a family-centered intervention designed to promote positive developmental outcomes in at-risk infants.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest This research work was supported by grants from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (K.E. Travis, PI: 5R00-HD84749; H.M. Feldman, PI: 2R01-HD069150) and the National Institute of Mental Health Postdoctoral Research Training in Child Psychiatry and Neurodevelopment (A. Reiss, PI: T32-MH019908).
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